British Riders of 2013: Number 28

Cycling Weekly is counting down the 30 British Riders of the Year thoughout December. The top 10 will be revealed in the December 19 issue of Cycling Weekly magazine.

NUMBER 28: EMILY KAY

Junior team pursuit world champion

Emily Kay is one of a number of excellent junior endurance riders who are coming through the ranks and it is, perhaps, a little unfair on her three pursuit team-mates Amy Hill, Hayley Jones and Emily Nelson, that she makes this list while the others do not.

Those four riders won the gold medal in the team pursuit at the junior World Championships in Glasgow during the summer.

However, Kay makes our riders of the year list ahead of them because she also won a bronze medal in the omnium competition in Glasgow.

The team pursuiters qualified fastest and then backed up that ride by beating the Russians in the final. Being able to repeat a high level of performance so close together is what sets apart the very best team pursuit squads from the rest and the young British line-up have got into that groove very early.